Toshiba office and academy in Bangkok

Jimmy Lim, chief representative, Toshiba Singapore, said yesterday that Toshiba had sold about 2,500 digital multifunction machines here in the last fiscal year - more than double the number two years ago.

"Thailand currently accounts for between 10 per cent and 12 per cent of Toshiba's electronic imaging business in Asia, a rapid increase from less than 5 per cent back in 2005," said Lim.

He added that Toshiba had a Thai market share of 10-12 per cent for digital multifunction machines, which posted total sales of between 23,000 and 25,000 units last year.

"With our Bangkok representative office and training centre, we would like to raise our business presence here in Thailand, particularly in terms of sales of our colour machines," said Lim.

"We want to increase our ranking in the market from the current fourth or fifth, to reach the top three as soon as possible with a market share of at least 15 per cent."

Supporting the expansion is the establishment of the Toshiba Academy in Bangkok, the first outside Singapore.

Located on the 12th floor of the Jewellery Centre on Nares Road, the academy will provide key training to the local distributor's sales people, including product training, sales skills, strategic, marketing and management training.

Yuichi Nozawa, Toshiba Singapore's general manager, international operations, electronic imaging division, said the new office and the Toshiba Academy had been set up to support local distributors in marketing, marketing communications and training. It will be a channel between Toshiba's office in Singapore and its distributor here - the FMA Group.

Nozawa said the market for digital multifunction products had enjoyed very strong growth in Asia, particularly colour machines, which have posted remarkable growth of 25 per cent annually.

He said Toshiba could sell 50,000 digital multifunction machines in Asia in its 2006 fiscal year ending next April. This would represent about 20 per cent of its worldwide business.

"Our policy is to expand productivity and stimulate the growth of our electronic imaging business by opening a Toshiba Academy at as many key markets as possible," said Nozawa. He said that the first Toshiba Academy was opened in Singapore last year.

In addition to Thailand, the company has plans to open a Toshiba Academy in other key markets in Asia such as India and Vietnam, as well as in the Middle East and South Africa.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation